


i hold my lover by the ears, he tames under my touch

by lategenocide



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/No Comfort, M/M, Self Loathing, Trauma, Villain!Hyunjin, at some point, chan is more aware of their mutual feelings than they are, felix can fly among other things, felix grapples with his feelings and his morals, felixs morals are better than hyunjins lets just say that, hyunjin act like a psychotic villain but he actually is, hyunjin brings down business empires for fun nerd, hyunjin creates car crashes, hyunjin started crushing on felix after being saved from a fire, hyunjins power is just teleporting things basically, jeongin is aromantic in this fic, jeongin is hyunjin's cupid but all his advice is born from watching too many kdramas, mutual pining but theyre stupid, ratings and warnings will change as the fic progress bc not everyone plans susan, theres a picnic date, they have stupid vigilante and villains names, this is just my brain going zoom, too much denial of each others feelings, vigilante!felix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29728962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lategenocide/pseuds/lategenocide
Summary: “Lix, you should really remember that fucking up other people’s work is part of my job description,” Hyunjin remarked.“You’re a self-employed villain,” Felix pointed out. “You can choose to get out of our way.” He attempted to jerk away from Hyunjin’s hold half-hearted, but neither was surprised he couldn’t break free. In truth, Felix could definitely overpower him in the strength aspect ( which, in Hyunjin’s mind, was pretty hot ) anytime he wished, but Hyunjin was, if anything, stubborn.( or: hyunjin's a villain crushing on felix, a vigilante. the problem is, hyunjin does not have the emotional capacity to think he's lovable, despite jeongin's helpful cupid advice )
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	i hold my lover by the ears, he tames under my touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! trigger warning for free-falling that acts as a suicide. ( it's not suicide though )

The touch of the wind flooded through Hyunjin’s blonde hair as if wanted to push him back out into the open space of the city below the unfenced edge of the office building as he turned a glittering diamond ring in his hands, not even the slam of the steel door shutting as someone walked out onto the roof could pull him out of his quiet concentration.

All of the pretenses grated to a halting stop when Hyunjin saw the black suit pants in his vision. He glanced just slightly up from his diamond ring, stretching out his arm to drop into Felix’s outstretched hand. Hyunjin grinned, “You’re late, Lixie. I was about to throw this off the ledge,” Felix stared at Hyunjin from his position several feet shorter, his cold cocoa eyes staring back at Hyunjin’s emotionlessly. The lace detailing on the collar of his undershirt tucked beneath his suit jacket outlined the delicate swoop of his neck, making the urge to snap his neck that much more desirable.

“You should get down before I push you off,” Felix said, ignoring the soft taunt, more of a command than a suggestion. There was not a single indication of his feelings in his low voice. Hyunjin compared it to Minho’s husky angry voice and decided he preferred Felix’s more, although he really would like it better if his voice was tinted colorful with his _real_ thoughts, no matter how nasty they would be.

Hyunjin laughed, the sound echoing into nothing into the vast night sky as he hopped down from the ledge of the building, “Death is a lot more fun if there’s two of us, don’t you think, Lixie?” Hyunjin said as he brushed past Felix towards the door. He didn’t get far, not all, before he was being tugged back by Felix’s hand. He smiled faintly, slightly brighter than his vigilante counterpart in that aspect, “Is there a problem, Lixie? I promise I didn’t rip you off this time.” Once again, he was surprised by Felix’s strength.

( Although he really shouldn’t be anymore, considering all the times Felix had slammed him into concrete walls without breaking a sweat. It was attractive if Hyunjin was honest. As it happened, Hyunjin had never been much of an honest person- what his ex-therapist liked to call a “pathological liar”. Rich terminology from someone who didn’t know what they were doing. )

Felix released Hyunjin’s suit jacket, but Hyunjin didn’t move, “Chan wanted to pass on a message asking you to meet him.” Hyunjin would rather _Felix_ ask him to meet over Bang Chan any time but that wasn’t really a possibility because Hyunjin would always be in a different world from him and Felix had an awful moral compass by basic human minimums. but Hyunjin was infinitely worse than that. Just by that standard, fissures had bloomed the first time they had clashed.

Also, Felix was and probably never would be as selfish as Hyunjin, but via Jeongin’s arguments, no one would be as selfish as Hyunjin. Except ( Jeongin would’ve added ), Future Hyunjin.

This time, Hyunjin _really_ moved away, “Tell him I’m not interested in passing around messages by a third party. He can find me if he wants to talk so badly.” He scoffed softly, brushing off the tough of Felix’s fingers. He ignored the slight downwards tilt of Felix’s lips, and the protest bit back ( Hyunjin could almost hear it as if it was a hallucination: “Do not count me as a third party.” Maybe Felix already knew the answer to his protest- so he was a little perceptive after all ). “If that’s all?” he stared rigidly at Felix who gave him a silent nod in confirmation. “Alright. I’ll see you the next time you’ve found I’ve done something Bang Chan doesn’t like.”

“You think I exist to seek you out when Chan-hyung doesn’t like what you’re doing?” Felix asked.

“Why else would Lixie take the time out to find me?” Hyunjin tilted his head to the side mockingly. “It’s not like you have enough opinion of me to come to berate me uselessly on your own.”

“I don’t, but you should stop fucking around with other people’s work,” Felix retorted icily. Felix wasn’t quite as tall as Hyunjin, but he could exude power when he wanted to.

Despite that, Hyunjin simply thought he was cute. He stepped a few inches closer, using his height advantage to overwhelm him, just a little. Felix was pretty, especially up close, freckles splashing over his features and soft cupid’s bow in the shape of temptingly kissable. He snatched up Felix’s wrist, the one that held the diamond ring that Hyunjin had given up.

“Lix, you should _really_ remember that fucking up other people’s work is part of my job description,” Hyunjin remarked.

“You’re a self-employed villain,” Felix pointed out. “You can choose to get out of our way.” He attempted to jerk away from Hyunjin’s hold half-hearted, but neither was surprised he couldn’t break free. In truth, Felix could definitely overpower him in the strength aspect ( which, in Hyunjin’s mind, was pretty hot ) anytime he wished, but Hyunjin was, if anything, stubborn.

“I do! Sometimes. It would be lots easier for me if you just stop handling work wherever I am. I worked hard for that diamond ring you have now, you know,” Hyunjin replied, semi-brightly in that way that told anyone he wasn’t taking them seriously. His peach lips stretched into an unsweetened smile, politely indicating that he was probably horny, and let go of Felix’s hand, pink rising in the shape of Hyunjin’s thin fingers where he had grabbed him.

Felix immediately pulled away from him, “It wasn’t yours, to begin with,” he pointed out.

Hyunjin regarded him with a lazy smile, “Ever heard of finders keepers, Lixie? In any case, it’s not your business to be meddling in either. Anything else?” He stared pointedly at Felix, half attentive to the flush flashing across his cheeks.

“No. I’ll pass it along to Chan-hyung,” Felix replied finally.

“I know, see you around, Lixie,” Hyunjin said, definitely not glancing far too obviously at Felix’s mouth before he turned away, disappearing into a rip of space, leaving the windy rooftop to the office building he didn’t bother remembering the name of.

When Hyunjin came home, a perfectly intact little studio apartment which initially was supposed to house only him ( Jeongin might as well just move in at this point; he had several belongings at Hyunjin’s ) long term, but Jeongin was, if anything, a thief- so along with the keys to Hyunjin’s he also stole the space on his old, but well-worn couch, usually leaving Hyunjin to camp out on the rug. Jeongin was infuriating at times, but he was the only person who could stand Hyunjin’s stupid ramblings, so he was allowed to stay, and not buried in some ambiguous forests where other bodies also laid.

“Did Bang Chan send someone to get the ring after the negotiations again?” Jeongin sat leisurely on the floor, playing Jenga by himself with a juice box in one hand.

“Felix,” Hyunjin replied. Taking off his jacket with all the grace of a tired ballerina, he completely ignored Jeongin as he slid into the kitchen on his socks. He didn’t even need to see the smile on Jeongin’s face to know the festered blister of mischievousness that wounded his face in a familiar way.

Jeongin sang with glee- the way Hyunjin knew he would the moment he heard the name _Felix_ come out of Hyunjin’s mouth, “Oh, Felix, _again_? The vigilante you have a hard-on for?”

“I don’t have a hard-on for Felix.”

“And I’m in favor of the government continuing as it already is, you shameless liar,” Jeongin retorted, tipping his Jenga over. Hyunjincld heard his footsteps getting closer as he stared at the fridge, wondering what he wanted for a late-night snack before he sat in bed and did everything except sleep. Jeongin slides up to Hyunjin. “Seriously though, you’ve been crushing on him for the last three years and have yet to make a romantic move. Do you need help, Jinnie?” Jeongin poked Hyunjin in the cheek, a careless smile on his face.

Hyunjin took out a saran-wrapped plate of leftover pizza, “If I needed help, I wouldn’t ask you,” he replied scrunching up his face at Jeongin. His blonde hair fell across his face as he closed the fridge door.

“I’m hurt!” Jeongin complained, looking not very hurt at all. Hyunjin shoved the pizza into the microwave, sparing Jeongin half a glance. “You know you can just drop the villain thing. Maybe it’ll help Felix care about you more.”

“Now you’re just assuming I don’t like being a villain,” Hyunjin scoffed, leaning on the countertop. Jeongin hopped his butt onto the counter facing Hyunjin.

“Hyunjin, you became a villain to get his attention.”

“I can change my mind, can’t I? It’s not like I would be at this if I was a saint,” Hyunjin replied, a lazy, dangerous glint in his eyes as he stared blankly at the ring on his middle finger. For a moment, he was back to three years ago, where he had just been a person with signs of a _super_ ability, watching Felix Felix assist Bang Chan in tearing down the dorm building from the roof down to find any students trapped in its greek fire tragedy. The awful flames were still on his mind to this day, the bright, unruly sparkle in Felix’s eyes as he swept past him towards the slow collapsing dormitory.

The burns from the fire were still on his body, a scar stretching from his ribcage to the small of his back on his right side. The first time Hyunjin had met Felix as a villain to a vigilante, Felix had narrowed his eyes in deja vu and Hyunjin had already displaced a brick wall at him.

Romantic.

“You can just kiss him,” Jeongin suggested. “I’m sure that’s a much more obvious sign of you having a hard-on for him than say… trying to rearrange his guts? Don’t do that to your crush, unless they’re into it.”

Hyunjin cut him a half-hearted glare, “I can rearrange his guts inside or outside his body, which one did you mean?” Jeongin choked on thin air. He patted himself on the chest, heaving his breaths back to normal, whilst wondering what kind of best friend he had acquired in the last two and a half years. Truly, Hyunjin was a good choice for a villain; he had the gruesome thoughts for it, but he was just awful at being a romantic. A bit hard to be hard on him, since the moment he fell for his current crush was when he’d just escaped a burning building and suffered from serious wounds. Not a _bit_ of romance in anyone’s sight.

“Neither. I don't know what's going through your brain, but neither of those ideas is as romantic as you might think,” Jeongin replied. “Seriously, have you thought about just sending him flowers? You can do that can’t you? Displace flowers at his office or something- Oh!” Jeongin perked up, looking like he just got the most awful idea in the universe that could ever pertain to Hwang Hyunjin. Hyunjin blamed all the drama Jeongin had been watching with Jisung recently- Jeongin already had a seriously warped concept of romance ( probably because, as Jeongin stated when he came out to Hyunjin a year ago, he had no interest in romance or any ability to feel it ) and somewhere along the line, Jisung’s terrible choice in shows led to Jeongin’s awful cupid awakening.

In conclusion, Hyunjin blamed Jeongin’s half-decent advice on Jisung.

“I don’t want to know,” Hyunjin decided at that moment, snatching his now host pizza from the microwave and escaping from the kitchen. Unfortunately, Jeongin had a healthy cognitive function and followed him out, his idea on the tip of his tongue.

“Why don’t you just displace flowers at him every time you see him? Like just stuck one behind his ear, people like flowers when they’re being pursued. Romantically, that is.” Jeongin said to Hyunjin’s back.

“You think my aim is that good?” Hyunjin turned around. “I think you want me to blind him instead, Innie.”

Jeongin scowled without hostility, “It was a suggestion, Hyunjin. I have a duty as your best friend to attempt to help you succeed in your dick conquest.”

Hyunjin flicked Jeongin’s forehead lightly, quite ungrateful, “I think I’d like to unsubscribe from this function, thanks.”

Jeongin grabbed at his redding forehead, scowling unthreatening at Hyunjin's lack of gratitude, "I hate you too."

By the time Hyunjin got bored with being a perfectly normal citizen again, less than 72 hours had passed. He could feel the itch in the back of his mind, completely restless with the false facade of cooperating with the government’s rules.

“I’m going out,” he said to Jeongin, who was splayed out on the couch, playing a mobile game on his phone while Netflix played on his laptop. Jeongin was not paying much attention to either distraction.

“To do what?”

Hyunjin paused. “I don’t know. Probably cause another pileup on the highway or something, I’m bored,” he swung the key rings on his index finger as he answered. Jeongin looked up from his game and TV show, looking not at all surprised.

“Do you always cause a pileup when you’re bored? Isn't that boring to do the same thing every time?” he asked disdainfully. “I heard from Jisung that vandalizing a hotel or something is a lot of fun.”

“Jisung has the worst ideas.”

“And traffic jams are fucking vanilla. You haven’t dragged a big company through the mud in a while,” Jeongin retorted. Hyunjin narrowed his eyes, actually considering the idea.

“I’ll do that when I come back. It’s not as messy as killing, but the foreplay is super fucking boring for the most part,” he relented finally. Jeongin picked up a pillow and chucked it at Hyunjin’s face. Instead of ducking, Hyunjin used his displacement powers to move the pillow back onto Jeongin’s face instead, just a millisecond or so before it could hit him. “What was that for?!”

“For using sex vocabulary in non-sexual conversation. You know there are other words, right?” Jeongin said half-scathingly, smacking the pillow off his face in the general direction of the couch.

“I know. Do I care though?” Hyunjin replied, laughing. He unlocked the door to the apartment and with a last, “Bye!”, headed out to relieve himself of his boredom with Jeongin’s so-called vanilla traffic jams.

In Hyunjin’s defense, it was a considerably less boring life when he was watching cars ram into each other. It wasn’t about self-discovery of how sick and twisted he actually ( or maybe it was, Hyunjin wasn’t _that_ self-aware), but simply funny. Jeongin called it a god complex, and Hyunjin certainly did feel like a god watching the humans run each other down to the ground for his entertainment. It was a lethargic feeling, knowing that the scenery he was watching bloomed into place because of him. Villains were self-centered like that, and Hyunjin felt no shame in it. Smoke obscured some of the scenes, but Hyunjin wasn’t picky.

He had simply displaced a car from the front to a different section on the highway from his VIP seat on top of the bridge, giggling as the car behind it desperately attempted to hit the brakes, to no avail. The glass window shattered on impact, embedding shards into the head of the driver. The passenger was not much better off, bleeding from a head wound.

In short, it was a wreck piling up into a bigger wreck, just as Hyunjin intended it to be, his eyes lighting up in delight, as he sat on the pillars of the highway bridge, laughing at the absurdity of it all. It took most of his awareness to avoid falling off the top of the pillar, but as it was, it wasn’t long into the massive pileup did Hyunjin note a familiar figure racing against the gentle winds towards him.

It was Felix, of course, with his soft blonde hair and unreadable pools for irises. Hyunjin watched unmoving as he flew through the air, his ability only faintly visible the hints of transparent purple rings under his feet. He looked vaguely irritated, but Hyunjin was feeling the opposite. Amusement and joy bubbled up against each other ( he should probably admit it, but he probably wouldn’t; the desires to be noticed by _Lee Felix_ was still a topcoat to his decisions ), melting together in his chest while the smile on his face was an irritant on Felix’s impenetrable emotionless features.

“Hyunjin,” Felix said, stopping several feet away from his seat on the pillar. “You’re getting out of hand.”

Hyunjin wanted to scoff, so he did, “I’d be a poor villain I wasn’t. Why are you here?” Obviously, he knew the answer, for he had noticed the riot of vigilantes and superheroes gathered near the pileup and a few who were watching the interaction between him and Felix from a safe distance. Either they were cowards or their brain cells were currently in use- Hyunjin reflected wryly on how quickly it caught on that Hyunjin- also known by his unofficial government villain name, _Omni Complex_ , a stupid villain name if Hyunjin had ever heard one ( supposedly, it was just a different way of saying god complex, which just made it worse, because it was now even more clear no one had any creativity ), would be making sure anyone would leave bloodied and bruised if they so much got a few meters from him unless it was Lee Felix ( also known much more creatively as _Cthulu_ , or not, depending on how people viewed Felix ). Apparently, his so-called hard-on for Felix was noticed by everyone except the subject in which his attention was often zoned in. It was such an awful-sounding book trope that Hyunjin sometimes wanted to laugh at it.

“What else could I be here for?” Felix asked in return.

Hyunjin took this as permission to look around mockingly, marking out each person watching them before looking down at the highway, feigning a surprised expression at the deadly pileup he had caused, “Oh, is this it? What a hero.”

Felix took the liberty of moving a bit closer, “Do you enjoy this?” and there it was, the harsh, steady tone that always made its scrapes at Hyunjin’s heart. The one that Hyunjin always briefly wondered if he could trade this joy for destruction in replacement for Felix ( the answer was yes, Hyunjin just wasn’t ready to recognize how bad the crush was getting ).

“Would I be doing it if I didn’t?” Hyunjin asked, raising his eyebrow sarcastically, stubborn to keep his villain facade intact. He would not have himself been pulled down to anything less, although the tragedy on the highway would just be another shovel of dirt in his grave as a sadistic, unfeeling villain. Even if he showed a bit of humanity, no one would believe it.

Felix scowled even harsher.

Hyunjin smiled too brightly in the face of his grimace, shrugging his shoulders with exaggeration, “Isn’t this how the system works? Without me,” Hyunjin put a hand flat to his chest. “Your hero complexes would have nowhere to be vented.” a soft sneer crawled up his lips, knowing that he was right. No hero or vigilante would admit it, but it sat in the corner of most of their hearts; they wanted the glory and fame of it more than they wanted to help people. The pure would become jaded- how haggard were older heroes? The horrors dragged them down even more than their piled-up secretly selfish desires.

And to an extent ( Felix, his limit was Felix ), Hyunjin enjoyed watching it immensely.

“I’d rather have you gone than worrying about hero complexes,” Felix slighted bitterly. Unbeknownst to him, a few springs holding Hyunjin together were slashed with his unadulterated words, but Hyunjin was still smiling, too much pride in his exteriors to let it fall with just a few words. What he did was, however, look down at the mess below, then back at Felix.

“Interesting. And if I did this?” Hyunjin, still grinning, simply scoots himself off the bridge’s pillar, and proceeded to free-fall towards the river below, faster than Felix would register his words and reach from him, the winds surging up past him.

It feels beautiful for a moment, a sense of weightlessness as he watched Felix’s eyes widen in slow motion, almost like he had grown wings, distraught coloring them as he made to dive for him, a hand outstretched in front of him.

But Hyunjin wasn’t even remotely suicidal, not at all.

He forced himself to jerk out of his trance, eyeing the boats at the pier. With all the energy he could muster that wouldn’t immediately kill him, Hyunjin displaced the smallest boat to catch him, landing right into its small deck with the side of his ribcage which he knew he would regret for at least a week. But even so, he laughed to himself, the pain wracking his body.

He looked up at Felix, who was coming to a landing on that exact deck that Hyunjin had stolen to help himself survive a fall off a bridge. “You’re crazy,” he whispered. Hyunjin already knew that, but Felix was dazzling in any situation, especially now- with his wind-kissed hair, bright brown eyes in the shade of melting enduringness, his cheeks flushed up from the cold.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Hyunjin replied lazily as he stood up, edging closer to Felix, just enough that Felix took a step back, staring distractingly back at him. Hyunjin didn’t take any offense to it, smiling the way one would when you just survived falling from an immense height. “Hey Lixie, go on a date with me.”

“What?” Felix looked stunned before the look shuttered back into something indifferent. “Why?”

There were a million answers. Hyunjin settled lightly on, “You’re cute.”

It certainly seemed to turn some gears in Felix’s head, his eyes widening slightly, confusion misting over his eyes like fog before it dissolved into hard light, “No.” He took several steps back from him, creating a distance where Hyunjin’s soft breath wasn’t fanning against his cheek.

Hyunjin expected as much. If he were in Felix’s shoes, he too would outright refuse out of suspicion. But he only pouted, as if it would soften the other’s heart, then said, “What if I stop fucking up traffic?” It was an impulsive offer, out of his mouth before he thought about it. And a moment after, when he had the brain to register it, he did ( kind of regret it ).

“For the rest of your life?” Felix ventured, but he didn’t move.

Hyunjin snorted, “God, no. I’m not a saint and none of you are a charity case. Should I say… a month? I think you can trade that with one single day of your life right, Lixie?” Felix’s features were unreadable, but Hyunjin smiled, self-satisfied. Heat burned Felix’s eyes redwood brown, tinted in his fighting thoughts.

“One date,” Felix said, choking out the word _date_ like it was some rock lodged in his throat that hindered his speech. Hyunjin’s smile grew. “You keep your end of the deal, and I will keep mine.”

“Of course! It’s a deal then, Lixie. I’ll pick you up Friday,” Hyunjin was immediately all sunshine and rainbows, his eyes curling up into crescents. “Wait for me at that cafe you like, I’ll be there at 10 o’clock.” Felix narrowed his eyes as if he was about to ask _why_ Hyunjin knew his favorite cafe but decided against it. To be fair, sometimes you just shouldn’t question why a villain knew these details.

Instead, Felix settled for something more vicious: “I hope you regret it.” His eyes were bright with contempt, wonderless. Hyunjin didn’t mind so much, because he was floating on some fictional high that would carry him through the month while he found other opportunities to entertain himself. It was time he looked for more hobbies anyway; perhaps this was just the instigative factor to diversify his villain resume profile. One could think of this as a career after all, and all jobs required a shiny resume and perhaps a portfolio.

Hyunjin smiled, genuine and sunny, “I won’t!”

Several hours later, when traffic had been repaired and survivors were rushed off to the nearest hospital, Felix stared uncomprehendingly at the pier where Hyunjin had put the boat he’d borrowed back. He’d practically be _bouncing_ , and Felix wasn’t blind. He was aware he was always too hyper-aware of Hyunjin, even the smallest of movements, he’d keep tabs, nevermind the villain person, a smile stretching of his attractive features. It just gave him a jump of hope, that the stupid heartbeat in his chest wasn’t just him alone.

( _But he shouldn’t like Hyunjin, it was against everything he believed in, even if the desire to press him up against a wall and kiss him dizzy was sometimes overwhelming_. )

“Felix! Lix, what are you staring off into nothing about?” Chan slung an arm over Felix’s shoulders, squinting at the spot that attracted so much of Felix’s attention, trying to find anything out of place or interesting about the little pier.

“Nothing. Hyunjin asked me out on a date,” Felix replied, shaking himself out of the stupor. “He said it was because I’m cute.”

“You are,” Chan said, laughing before he switched back to seriousness. “What’d you say? Do I need to go do something illegal to him or?”

Felix’s lips upturned, “I’ll be okay Chan-hyung. He said he’ll trade a date with me for a month of peace.”

“Weird courting rituals you two got there,” Bang Chan commented. Felix coughed, choking around nothing. A faint blush snowed on the tips of his ears, dim in the fading sunlight. Felix shook off Chan’s arm, in a futile attempt to hide a flustered face.

“It’s not like that,” he grumbled under his breath. Not that Felix _hoped_ , probably worthlessly, that Hyunjin wasn’t just playing around when he offered to go on a date with him. Not at all. There were still strings keeping him attached to him. It was especially damaging when Hyunjin's smile dazzled him into paradise.

Or in other words, as Seungmin would say, Felix was “love songs at 2 am” kind of desperate.

“Right. You don’t think about one of most infamous new villains in the last few years, all the time, not at all,” Chan laughed. “Come on, lover boy, let’s go home first. When the date?”

Felix hated how _right_ Chan was, but he wasn’t about to refute anything because Seungmin had an incredibly sensitive hearing and would be here to debunk him with the slightest intake of breath. Instead, he settled for facts, “He said Friday,” in his words were wonder, soft and bewildered, like little fireflies hand landed on his hand, dots of light surrounding him.

Bang Chan raised his eyebrows, “Friday, huh? Is he planning to steal you for the weekend or something? If he tries to kidnap you for a while, please at least give me a call or something, Felix.” It was a lightly said sentence, but Felix knew if Chan would freak out if his so-called scenario did happen- but it wouldn’t.

“It’s just a trade, Hyung,” Felix pointed out, clasping his hands behind him like a cottage maiden skipping down the rolling hills of the rural country. “I don’t think he wants any more than that.” He certainly wished it was true though, despite all the fights he’d ever had with himself for Hyunjin- _I shouldn’t like him because he’s a bad person, a villain, but at the same time, is my vigilante identity much better than him_ \- Felix wondered what it would be like to elicit joy and affection or something less than bright, villainous disdain from him.

"Sure," Chan scoffed, more aware of the mutual feelings between the two more the people in a not-yet relationship.

On Hyunjin’s side, Jeongin, who had just sat up with an incredulous look on his face, a side effect of the shallow expectations of his best friend’s romantic understanding, “You asked him out on a date after killing a bunch of people and he agreed? What did you do, hypnotize him?” his phone dropped out of his hand, bouncing off his lap. In a panic, he grabbed for, only to hit his fingers on the side of the coffee table, earning a snick from Hyunjin and Jisung too from the still ongoing call. He cast an annoyed glare at both of them.

“That’s what you get for not believing me,” Hyunjin said, sitting down on the sofa to wave hello to Jisung. “I didn’t hypnotize him, I don’t know; isn’t that Lee Minho’s trick? Anyway, I made a trade with him-”

“We have paper currency now, you don’t need to trade things anymore,” Jeongin interrupted. He pulled out his wallet, waving it in Hyunjin’s face.

Hyunjin scowled as he continued on, “I’ll stay away from highways for a month and in return, he goes on a date with me.”

From the screen, Jisung shoved a few fries into his mouth, pointed at the screen, and said, “This is why Felix will never think you like him, dude. You make deals and excuses. Ever thought about dropping actual signals? It might get you somewhere, you know.” Jeongin choked on his tea, but it sounded suspiciously like a strangled laugh.

“At least I’m not so far out of his radar that he doesn’t remember my name. Does Changbin know yours yet? I heard heroes are usually good at remembering villain names,” Hyunjin scoffed. This time, Jeongin choked even harder, but neither raised a hand to help him out.

Jisung sulked on the other side of the screen, “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even work in the same city at this point.”

“You can always find out his schedule. Or upgrade to felonies instead petty crimes,” Hyunjin suggested. None of the three had ever thought about shedding the villain costume and pursuing a cleaner, purer way of getting close to their crushes. Perhaps it was the villainy life that had gotten to them; chasing after someone became a contest of who could destroy more in the wake of their interests.

Jeongin sighed, “You two are the reason I won’t ever fall in love.”

On the screen, Jisung mimicked throwing the closest thing to him- a tissue box- at Jeongin’s head, “Shut up, aromantic little imp. My Changbin problems only started a year ago, and you came out to me _three_ years ago. What does Changbin have to do with anything? That’s your problem, not mine.” Hyunjin himself had only learned of Jeongin’s romantic orientation a year ago, so he chose to add nothing to that conversation in case Jeongin saw it fit to pin it on him for fun.

True to his personality, Jeongin scoffed again, “Hopeless.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you have thoughts i will be glad to steal them from you <3


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